Gourd
Charms

Gourds in Ancient China

In
China, the calabash, or "bottle-gourd" plant, has long
been used as a food and medicine, and its hard shell as a
bottle, a dipper and even an ancient musical instrument.
Gourds
have
traditionally
been
used
to
carry medicine, wine and "magic" elixirs. Gourds
were
also
tied
to
the backs of children and boat people to serve as life
preservers.

The Chinese language has a large number of written
characters but a smaller number of spoken sounds so many
Chinese characters share the same or similar pronunciation
(please see Hidden Meaning of Symbols).
The Chinese have a strong propensity to associate similar
sounding words. For example, trailing gourd vines are
described in Chinese as man
(蔓}. This same character can also be pronounced as wan and has the exact
same pronunciation and meaning as 万 which means
"10,000". Because the gourd contains many seeds, the
Chinese associate the gourd with "10,000 children".
In ancient China, parents hoped for many sons and
grandsons so the gourd became an important charm symbol
for a large family with many children.
The gourd is popular as a charm to ward off evil spirits
and disease because its first character (hulu葫芦)
has the same pronunciation as the word to "protect" or
"guard" (hu 护) and also the word for "blessing" (hu
祜).
The Chinese word for gourd, hulu (葫芦), has other auspicious
associations as well. In some dialects, the
character hu(葫)
has a similar pronunciation to fu (福) which means "happiness" or "good
fortune". Therefore, saying hulu (葫
芦) for gourd would
sound similar to fulu
(福禄) which means "happiness and rank (as in attaining a
high government office)".

The Chinese consider the number "8" to be
very auspicious and an omen for good luck (see Hidden Meaning of Symbols).
The gourd, as the gourd charm below illustrates, resembles
the number "8".
The gourd was considered to have a magical power to
protect Chinese children from smallpox. The custom
was for parents, on the last night of the year, to hang a
gourd shell near where a child who had not yet had
smallpox slept. It was believed that the god of
smallpox and measles would "empty" the smallpox into the
gourd shell instead of the child if there was one
nearby. Should the child happen to come down with
smallpox in the future, it was believed that the illness
would be less severe if the parents followed this custom.

Also, in ancient times,
old men would frequently be seen carrying gourds on their
backs. Gourds, therefore, gradually became
associated with old age and charms, such as the one
pictured below, took on the gourd-shape to signify
longevity.

The Myth of Hundun (Hun Tun) the
Cosmic Gourd

One of China's earliest
myths was first recorded in the late Zhou (Chou) Dynasty
in such works as Zhuangzi
(Chuang Tzu 庄子)
and "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" (shanhaijing 山海经).
(Please see peach charms
for another story from "The Classic of
Mountains and Seas" concerning "door gods" and
peach wood amulets.)
Hundun (混沌) is described as a god of primordal substance
without any apertures or holes. In some accounts he
is referred to as the cosmic gourd in that he is
irregularly shaped and contains the seeds that symbolize
the creative potential of the primary and undifferentiated
Dao (Tao 道).

In the story, Hundun is the god of the center. The
god of the south (Shu) and the god of the north (Hu)
frequently came to visit Hundun who always treated them
very cordially. Shu and Hu wanted to repay Hundun's
generosity. They said, "All humans have seven
openings to see, hear, eat and breathe. Only this
one (referring to Hundun) has not got any". So, on
each day they chiseled one opening in Hundun. On the
seventh day, Hundun died.

The story can be interpreted in several ways. One
interpretation illustrates that the gods Shu and Hu did
not act "spontaneously" or with "noninterference".
They were more concerned with proper protocol such as
gift-giving. They had a human-oriented bias in that
their response was to give Hundun human orifices so that
he would have the "prestige" of a human face. They
did not act with natural and spontaneous actions in
accordance with the core Daoist (Taoist) philosophy of wuwei (wu-wei 无为) which
demands that one submit to and move with, as opposed to
against, the natural processes and change. As a
result of their actions, Hundun died.

The Gourd as a Daoist (Taoist) Symbol

In Daoism (Taoism),
the gourd shape is taken to represent heaven and earth
with an extended meaning representing the entire universe.

Within the gourd there is a mystical zone in the form of
an alternate universe or the entrance to another world,
and Daoist immortals and practitioners can travel between
these two worlds.

Because of this association, the bottle gourd has long
been a Chinese symbol of self-containment and
self-sufficiency. Old Chinese fables sometimes
describe a person accidentally coming upon a small,
narrow opening in the mountains and entering into a
mystical or fairy world where people enjoy peace and long
and happy lives.

This same physical characteristic of the gourd carries
over into the traditional Chinese garden where a person
enters an enclosed but spacious compound through a small
opening or gate.
The gourd is also the Taoist (Daoist) symbol of
alchemy. It was believed that the "elixir of
immortality" could be produced through the distilling of
red cinnabar placed in the upper chamber of the gourd and
mercury placed in the lower chamber. The "marriage"
of these two substances was a sexual metaphor for the
union of semen and menstrual blood to create life.

The Gourd
as a Symbol of Li Tie Guai

The gourd is also the symbol of Li Tie Guai (Li
Tieguai 李铁拐) who is known as "Li with the iron crutch" and
is one of the Eight Daoist
(Taoist) Immortals (八仙).

The story is told that one day Li left his body in order
to visit Laozi 老子 (the
founder
of
Taoism)
on
the
sacred mountain of Hua Shan (花山). Before departing,
he instructed one of his disciples to guard his body
during his absence. The disciple was further
instructed that if he did not return within seven days, he
was to burn the body. On the sixth day, however, the
disciple received word that his mother was dying.
Being a filial son, the disciple quickly returned home but
not before burning Li's body.

Li returned after seven days only to find his body in
ashes. He was forced to enter the only body that was
readily available which was that of a dead crippled
beggar. He turned the beggar's bamboo cane into an
"iron crutch" which also became a magic staff that could
transmute matter. Li was also able to magically make
the "elixir of immortality" in the gourd which he carried.

Li used the magic elixir from the gourd to bring the
disciple's mother back to life.

Li also had the ability to make himself so tiny that he
could sleep inside the gourd.

The Gourd as Symbol for the Yellow River,
Dragon Veins and the Womb

The gourd is actually a multifaceted symbol in
China.

Ancient Chinese maps show the source of the Yellow River
as bottle-gourd shaped.

In fengshui (风水),
the origins of the major "dragon veins" (the pathways through
which energy flows over mountains) are also depicted as
gourd-shaped.

Because of its shape, gourds also symbolize the "womb" in
both the sense of the female reproductive organ as well as
in a broader creative sense.

The Magic Gourd,
the Monkey King and the "Journey to the West"

The gourd has also played
a role in popular Chinese culture. The "Journey to
the West" (Xiyouji
西游记) is one of the most famous novels from the Ming
Dynasty and one of the most beloved characters from that
novel is the Monkey King (Sun Wukong 孙悟空).

In one episode, the Monkey King receives word that demons
are on their way to capture him with their magic
gourd. The Monkey King disguises himself as an
immortal and goes to meet them. The demons are
unaware that the immortal is, in fact, the Monkey King and
proceed to show him the magic gourd which can hold ten
thousand people. The Monkey King then shows them a
gourd, which in reality is perfectly ordinary, but which
he says is magical and can hold the entire universe.

The demons are intrigued and express willingness to swap
their magic gourd for the immortal's gourd if he can prove
that it indeed has the power to contain the sky.

The Monkey King, who has many extraordinary abilities,
quickly obtains permission from the spirits to block the
light of the sun, moon and stars for one hour.

The Monkey King is thus able to deceive the demons into
thinking that he has bottled up the heavens in his gourd
and, in so doing, is triumphant in swapping his ordinary
gourd for the demons' magic one.

Gourd Charms

This is an example of an old gourd charm that has the
Chinese characters fu
(福) and shou (寿)
on its obverse side.

Fu means
"happiness" and shou
means "longevity".

The reverse side of
this gourd charm has the Chinese characters shuang (双) and quan (全).

Shuang means
"both" and quan
means "complete".

The entire inscription therefore reads "Happiness and
Longevity both complete".

The charm measures 41 mm in length and 29 mm in
width. It weighs 15.8 grams.

This
large gourd charm may not be quite as old as the one above but
it is very well made and displays a number of traditional
Chinese symbols.

The upper part of the charm resembles an old Chinese cash coin.
It is round with a square box in the middle to signify the
"square hole" of a real coin. The shape of a Chinese
coin, of course, is an obvious symbol of prosperity and
wealth.

The Chinese character in the middle of the "square hole" is fa (发) which means "to
issue" and here can be interpreted to mean facai (发财) "to
make a fortune".

The four character inscription just inside the rim of the
"coin" is read top to bottom and right to left as jin yu man tang (金玉
满堂). This is a very common charm inscription for
prosperity and means "may gold and jade fill your halls".

The lower portion of the charm has a large fu (福)
character in the middle meaning "good fortune".

Surrounding the character fu(福) are five flying bats. A
bat (fu 蝠)is a visual pun for "good
fortune" or happiness (fu
福) because both characters are pronounced the same.

The bats at the top are shown flying upside
down. In Chinese, the character (dao 倒) for "upside-down"
and the character (dao 到) meaning "to have
arrived" are pronounced the same. If you say
"the bat is flying upside down" a listener could just as
easily interpret this as "happiness has arrived".The depiction of "five bats" is a traditional
representation of what is known as the "Five Blessings",
also known as the "Five Happinesses" or "Five Good
Fortunes". These five blessings refer to longevity (寿),
wealth (富), health and composure (康宁), virtue (修好德), and the
desire to die a natural death in old age (考 终命).
(Another "five bat" charm representing the "five fortunes
surround longevity" (wu fu peng shou五福捧寿)
may be seen at Chinese
House.)

The wish for good fortune is further reflected in the
Chinese four character inscription located at the three
o'clock and nine o'clock position. The inscription reads
wu fu lin men (五福临门)
which means "may the five fortunes arrive at your door".

This is the other side of the charm which has a more amulet or
protective nature.

The Chinese character in the center of the charm with the
circle around it is sha
(杀)
which means "kill".

Please visit Daoist (Taoist) Charms
for a more detailed discussion of Daoist magic writing and
this specific Chinese inscription.

This charm is 63.5 mm in length and has a maximum width of 39
mm. It weighs 27.4 grams.

The gourd-shaped charm at the left is based on the familiar
shape of the ancient Chinese cash coin as a symbol of
wealth and prosperity.

The charm resembles two round cash coins with square holes in
the middle stacked one upon the other. Both "coins" have
four character inscriptions just like real cash coins.

However, this is a charm and the inscription on the top "coin"
is not similar to that found on a coin.

The inscription is read top to bottom and right to left as tong xin he yi (同心合意)
which translates as "to be of one mind".

On the other hand, the "coin" on the bottom very closely
resembles an actual coin cast during the years 7-14 AD of the
reign of Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty. The inscription
reads da quan wu shi (大
泉五十) which means "large coin fifty". At the
time, one of these coins was valued as equal to 50 of the Han
Dynasty wu zhu (五铢)
coins.
In the centuries that followed, the da quan wu shi coin became popular as the
basis for charms.

This is the reverse side of the charm.

The upper coin has no Chinese characters or symbols and looks
just like the back of many old Chinese coins.